Austin, TX rocks!

Everyone, not just Austinites, knows Austin is one of the best cities in the world.  Want to see who else is talking about us?  Here’s proof.

No. 1 Boom town in America, Forbes Magazine

No. 1 City for starting over, thedailybeast.com

No. 1 Place to live in the U.S., relocateamerica.com

No. 1 City in resident satisfaction, ETC Institute

No. 1 City for young adults starting careers, American City Business Journal

No. 1 Best golf city in America, golf.com

No. 1 Funniest city, thedailybest.com

No. 1 City in the U.S. for job growth, gracytitle.com

No. 2 Best city for families, Parenting Magazine

No. 2 Market to watch in 2012, Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers

No. 2 Best place for dating in the U.S., vavoom.com

No. 2 City for young Latino Americans to live, work and play, Mun2

No. 2 IT startup hot spot, PayScale, Inc

No. 3 Best airport in America and 5^th best in the world, Airports Council International

No. 4 Best city for single women, CBS Money Watch

No. 4 Best job market in the U.S., Forbes

No. 4 Best city for college grads, thedailybeast.com

No. 5 U.S. city with the healthiest employment outlook, Manpower Employment Outlook Survey

No. 5 Place with good jobs and cheap housing, investopedia.com

No. 5 American city for iPad hot spots, Men’s Health

No. 5 Most moved to city in the U. S., U-Haul

No. 7 Best place for business, Forbes

No. 8 Most socially networked city, Men’s Health

No. 8 Best beer city, Travel + Leisure

No. 10 Greenest U.S. city, Mother Nature Network

No. 10 Social media college: University of Texas, studentadvisor.com

At Fine Austin Living, REALTORS….we say “ENOUGH, ALREADY!” to all the negativity saturating the media.  Austin is a great place to live, work and play, and here’s proof.

Take note of all the awesome statistics and accolades Austin’s economy has received, and while some of this pertains to 2010, the 2011 version will be available soon.

It’s a great time to be transacting real estate in Austin, Texas and we would love to be your Realtors of choice.  Our team of talented agents are ready to go to work or you in helping you market your property for sale and/or finding you a new place to live!  Relocating here…we can help?  Up-sizing or down-sizing…we do that too! Leasing real estate, whether it be apartments, homes, or multi-family properties…we’re your team!

There are an amazing number of ways we can help you achieve your real estate objectives.   Contact us today. We look forward to sharing the Fine Art of Austin Real Estate with you.

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Fine Austin Living, in association with the Belvedere Homeowners Association, is proud to present an appreciation event on September 10th to raise funds for the Lake Travis Firefighters Association. To be held the night before the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, in which so many brave first responders lost their lives, we honor the men and women who work tirelessly and unselfishly to protect our homes and community.

The LTFA was instrumental, along with multiple other firefighting teams, in knocking back the flames that swept through the community and neighboring properties last month, protecting every structure in the area from damage.  Despite their heroic efforts, two firefighters were injured in the blaze.

All proceeds for the event will be directed to the LTFA Benevolent Fund, which helps to address uncovered personal or family medical expenses in the event of an injury or loss of life by a member of the LTFA.

Please join us at the Belvedere Amenity Center from 7-10pm on Saturday September 10th, located on Hamilton Pool Road 4 miles west of Hwy 71 in Bee Cave, for this worthwhile opportunity to express our gratitude for those who unselfishly serve our community.

Donations will be graciously accepted via cash at the door, via check (payable to Lake Travis Firefighters Association) or by credit card via the PayPal link below.

For more information contact Karen Shultz at kzelina@yahoo.com or Todd Smith at 512-402-9800 or visit us online at www.FineAustinGIVING.com or at www.BelvedereAustin.com.

Fine Austin Living, REALTORS is pleased to announce the addition of Texas Real Estate Q&A to our award-winning website.  Already loaded with user-friendly search tools, information, and interactive applications, our primary website at FineAustinLiving.com now includes a Question and Answer module that explores a multitude of questions most buyers and sellers encounter in the course of a real estate transaction.

From the mundane to the wacky, the Q&A session covers the gamut. Buying strategies, home selling tips, even legal issues and professional standards are fair game!  Get your questions answered by a team of professionals, engage in the discussion, or ask a question of your own.

Click Here to check it out today!

Lady Aggies 2011 NCAA Champs

Congratulations go out to all our Aggie fans!  The Lady Aggies defied the critics and defeated Notre Dame in the 2011 NCAA Women’s Basketball final.

This NCAA tournament had plenty of twists, turns and upsets even before the championship game. Coach Gary Blair and Texas A&M delivered a thrilling ending.

This was the supposed to be the year Maya Moore’s Connecticut juggernaut won its third straight title or Stanford broke through or Tennessee got back to the top.

Instead, the Aggies rewrote the script in their first Final Four appearance. They made the 65-year-old Blair the oldest coach to win a national championship just one night after UConn’s 68-year-old Jim Calhoun did the same thing on the men’s side.

“We gave you that national championship game without the so-called powers of the world,” Blair said. “The two powers tonight were the two that earned it.”

Danielle Adams scored 22 of her 30 points in a dominating second half Tuesday night to help the Aggies beat Notre Dame 76-70 and bring the women’s title back to College Station and the former all-male military academy.

“I had a little voice in my head, ‘Don’t let this team down,’” said Adams, who became the school’s first All-American a week ago and was picked as the outstanding player of the tournament.

Now the Aggies (33-5) are national champs, newcomers who bullied their way through the tournament to win it all. Like Notre Dame, they vanquished their conference rival on the way, beating Baylor in the Dallas regional final after losing to the Lady Bears three times during the season.

I'm SOLD on Fine Austin Living!!!

We are pleased to announce the first of many recent additions to our team of outstanding real estate agents.  Our team is growing, and we’re excited to welcome, and celebrate, Beth Ann Cummins.

As one of Austin’s premiere boutique residential real estate firms, Fine Austin Living launched an aggressive public awareness campaign at the beginning of 2011.  As a result, we’ve been speaking with dozens of agents across the Central Texas marketplace in search of the right combination of personality, commitment to service excellence, market knowledge, and willingness to help grow our company.

Beth Ann is one of those rare individuals that is a perfect fit for our company.  She comes to us with an extensive career in the travel industry, after which she entered the world of real estate in 2001, while living in Houston.  Raising four boys and embarking on a new career gave Beth Ann the experience and skills necessary to not only survive, but flourish in the Austin real estate market ups and downs.

A consummate professional, Beth Ann is a welcome addition to the team at Fine Austin Living, REALTORS.  Check out her full biography at http://fineaustinliving.com/beth_ann_cummins and let her show you The Fine Art of Austin Real Estate!

Geez, Dad...what is all this stuff? It's freezing my delicate paws!

Life here in Central Texas, aka the Live Music Capital of the World, doesn’t usually include thoughts of snowflakes, roaring fires, and windshield de-icers. But this morning, in a rare gift from Mother Nature … thanks to the “monster storm” the rest of the country is experiencing … we got dusted with about an inch of the white stuff.

Yes, one inch.

And from the news reports, electronic messages whirling about, tweets, and automated phone dialers ringing off the hook, you’d think the world had come to an end! The dogs are restless… and Tyson (seen here in the photo) isn’t quite sure what to make of this stuff all over the ground … other than to whimper that his paws are cold! Schools are closed, even my gym is delayed in opening this morning (hence time for a blog post), and our local newspaper (the Austin-American Statesman) published an electronic edition since they were concerned their drivers couldn’t deliver the print edition on time!

Thank heavens for the internet. What would we be otherwise doing on a day like this? Oh…I forgot to mention…the internet is down at my office and I can’t get my car up the hill from the house…so I guess I’ll get plenty of time to catch up on emails and such.

Leander Texas has recently received Hollywood attention.  A movie titled “Dadgum, Texas” chose Leander as a location for some of its scenes, thanks to the Texas Film Commission program “Film Friendly Texas”.  The “Film Friendly Texas” program is helping to make smaller Texas communities prepared for issues that may arise during the filming of movies, television programs or commercials.

There is no better exposure or advertising than that offered by Hollywood and the choice to use Leander as a film location was great PR for the city that lies five miles north of Austin Texas.  The film will be released sometime next year and will surely be a draw to Leander’s residents as well as to those from all around the Austin Texas area.

Contact Todd Smith today for up to date information about Austin Texas real estate as well as free access to the Austin Texas MLS and all properties currently for sale in the Austin area.

Great tips when considering an addition to your home.

This recent article by Paul Bianchina offers seven great tips for people considering an addition to a home. With an eye on how “aesthetics, access, and open space affect resale,” this is a great article. And who knows, if it sparks a conversation about trading up rather than adding on, I’d love to chat!

Be sure to check out the article to learn more about Paul’s thinking on these seven rules:

1. Know why you’re adding on.
2. Good additions never look like additions.
3. Out, up, down or a combination.
4. Don’t let the interior become an afterthought.
5. Create convenient access.
6. Don’t overwhelm your lot.
7. Understand the legalities.

Read the entire article, “7 Rules For Room Additions” on Yahoo! Real Estate:
http://realestate.yahoo.com/info/experts/7-rules-for-room-additions

According to the Austin Business Journal, Austin Texas was  listed among the country’s healthiest cities on two rankings released last week and Monday.

The Texas capital city fell one spot to No. 10 fittest city on the American College of Sports Medicine‘s American Fitness Index. The ranking, which analyzes statistics from the U.S.’s 50 most populous cities, said Washington D.C. was again the most healthy, taking 73.5 points out of a possible 100. Boston, Mass. took the No. 2 spot, followed by St. Paul, Minn.; Seattle, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Denver, Colo.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Francisco, Calif.; and Hartford, Conn.

The report factors in preventive health behaviors, chronic disease levels, access to health care and community resources and policies that support physical activity. The D.C. area was cited for having a relatively low smoking rate, higher-than-average population eating recommended daily serving of fruits and vegetables and lower-than-average rates of obesity, asthma, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

The report said education levels were a large factor in top health-rated cities. Areas with high ratios of high school or higher education graduates were more likely to be physically active and have access to care through health insurance.

Texas’ other large metros were all ranked among the worst 10 largest metros for health. Dallas fell five spots to No. 40, taking 39.5 points out of 100. Houston was No. 42 with 37.6 points and San Antonio was No. 43 with 36.9 points.

Austin was also ranked the 10th fittest last week by Shape Magazine. The publication attributed the ranking to the city’s large number of parks, 220, and its young, highly active community. Low chronic disease rates were also considered along with famous health advocates, such as champion cyclist and Austin resident Lance Armstrong and Whole Foods Markets Inc. headquartered in Austin.